Dallas Fort Worth Injury Lawyer Blog

August 28, 2009

J&J Unit Warns of Deadly Skin Reaction With HIV Drug Intelence

Johnson & Johnson warned doctors of reports of a deadly skin reaction and liver failure tied to its HIV medicine Intelence.

The skin condition called toxic epidermal necrolysis has killed one patient and injured another since Intelence was approved in January 2008. Another patient taking the tablets reported a hypersensitivity reaction accompanied by liver failure.

The prescribing information for Intelence was revised to include these reports and a caution that doctors stop treatment immediately if patients develop severe skin reactions or hypersensitivity symptoms, according to a letter e-mailed today by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Similar side effects were seen in some study participants and have also been linked to other drugs for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

August 28, 2009

South Texas Jury Finds Yamaha not Negligent in First Rhino Rollover Trial

by Dr. Shezad Malik

It only took a few hours for Southeast Texas jurors in the first trial over Yamaha Rhino all-terrain vehicle rollovers to return a swift ruling of no negligence — a verdict in the company’s favor that could have far reaching effects.

With hundreds of Yamaha ATV suits pending in courts around the country, the victorious outcome obtained in Orange County may influence how Yamaha proceeds with similar litigation.

The product liability trial of Johnny Ray vs. Yamaha Motor Co. kicked off Aug. 18 and ended Aug. 27.

Jurors in the Orange County District Court of Judge Buddy Hahn were tasked to decide if Yamaha Motor Co. cut costs and negligently placed a defective off-road vehicle into the stream of commerce.

August 27, 2009

Hotel Drowning Wrongful Death Jury Verdict $3.8 M

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A jury returned a nearly $3.8 million verdict against a Montgomery hotel where a 19-year-old football player suffered injuries that led to his death two years ago.

Derrick Marshall was a standout receiver who had signed with Alabama State University.

Marshall was about to start two-a-day workouts with the Hornets when he drowned in the pool at the hotel during a family reunion July 29, 2007, said Josh Wright, an attorney for Marshall’s family.

Marshall did not die immediately, but was left in a vegetative state. He died at the age of 20 in November 2007 at Jackson Hospital.

August 27, 2009

FDA Accuses J&J of ‘Misleading’ Advertising for Ertaczo

by Dr. Shezad Malik

An advertisement for Johnson & Johnson’s (JNJ) Ertaczo, a product to treat the fungal infection known as athlete’s foot, makes unproven claims about the medicine’s effectiveness and omits key information about risks associated with the product, federal regulators said on Wednesday.

The Food and Drug Administration said Johnson & Johnson used “misleading” information and did not mention certain risks in a medical journal advertisement for its athlete’s foot cream Ertaczo.

In an Aug. 21 letter released by the FDA Wednesday, the agency said the journal advertisement broadens the approved indication, contains unsubstantiated effectiveness claims about the product, and omits important risk information. Also, the FDA said J&J failed to submit the journal advertisement under current FDA regulations.

The company has until Sept. 4 to respond to the FDA letter.

“We have received an untitled letter from the FDA, which we are currently reviewing, and are in the process of preparing our response to the FDA,” said Marc Boston, a spokesman for J&J’s Ortho Dermtalogics unit, in a statement.

August 27, 2009

Dallas Cowboys Staffers File Lawsuits Over Sport Facility Collapse

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A Dallas Cowboys scouting assistant who was left paralyzed and a special-teams coach whose neck was broken in the May 2 collapse of the team’s practice facility in Irving filed separate lawsuits against the Pennsylvania-based company that built the structure.

The lawsuits, which also name an engineer and five other companies involved in construction and maintenance of the facility, contend that structural problems and code violations were kept from the team for years before the tentlike structure collapsed in gusting winds.

Rich Behm, who was paralyzed from the waist down, and coach Joe DeCamillis are seeking an undisclosed amount for their pain and suffering and for punitive damages.

August 27, 2009

Jury Says Altria Must Pay $13.8 M in Smoker Lawsuit

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Altria Group Inc., parent company of Philip Morris USA, the Marlboro cigarette maker, must pay $13.8 million in punitive damages to the daughter of a lifelong smoker who died of lung cancer in 2003, a jury found.

The verdict for Jodie Bullock, daughter of Betty Bullock, who smoked Marlboro and Benson & Hedges cigarettes for 45 years, was reached in Los Angeles. An earlier award of $28 billion from a 2002 trial had been first reduced by the trial judge and then canceled by an appeals court that ordered a new trial on punitive damages.

August 27, 2009

Camp Lejeune Residents Blame Rare Breast Cancer Cluster on the Water.

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Camp Lejeune residents blame rare breast cancer cluster on the water.

For three decades, dry-cleaning chemicals and industrial solvents laced the water used by local Marines and their families. Mike Partain and at least 19 others developed male breast cancer.

One night in April 2007, as Mike Partain hugged his wife before going to bed, she felt a small lump above his right nipple. A mammogram — a “man-o-gram,” he called it — led to a diagnosis of male breast cancer. Six days later, the 41-year-old insurance adjuster had a mastectomy.

Partain had no idea men could get breast cancer. But he thinks he knows what caused his: contaminated drinking water at Camp Lejeune, N.C., where he was born.

Over the last two years, Partain has compiled a list of 19 others diagnosed with male breast cancer who once lived on the base.

August 27, 2009

Camp Lejeune Residents Blame Breast Cancer on the Water

by Dr. Shezad Malik

For three decades, dry-cleaning chemicals and industrial solvents laced the water used by local Marines and their families. Mike Partain and at least 19 others developed male breast cancer.

One night in April 2007, as Mike Partain hugged his wife before going to bed, she felt a small lump above his right nipple. A mammogram led to a diagnosis of male breast cancer. Six days later, the 41-year-old insurance adjuster had a mastectomy.

Over the last two years, Partain has compiled a list of 19 others diagnosed with male breast cancer who once lived on the base.

August 26, 2009

Poligrip and Fixodent Denture Cream Use Leads to Zinc Poisoning

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Denture Cream Lawsuit – Zinc Poisoning Symptoms
It has increasingly been reported that the denture cream ingredient zinc is associated with neurological symptoms including neuropathy in denture wearers. The recommended daily allowance of zinc is 8 mg for women and 11 mg for men. According to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies the largest daily tolerable zinc intake is 40 mg.

Fixodent denture adhesive and alleged Fixodent zinc poisoning is complicated by the fact zinc, as a trace element, is part of a healthy diet. Denture cream zinc poisoning happens when too much zinc is used.

According to the official Fixodent web site, “the amount of zinc an average denture adhesive user would ingest from daily usage of Fixodent” is less than the amount of zinc contained in most daily multivitamins, or fewer than 6 oysters.

August 26, 2009

Judge Awards $18 M to Man Hurt in St. Louis County Pileup

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A man severely injured in a pileup that killed three people on Highway 40 (Interstate 64) last year is entitled to more than $13.8 million from a truck driver and his company, a federal magistrate judge has ruled.

The man’s wife has been awarded $4.2 million more.

The crash left Mark Tiburzi, 53, under constant care in a nursing home, unable to walk or talk, according to his lawyer and court filings.

Trial is pending on involuntary manslaughter charges in St. Louis County against the truck driver, Jeffrey D. Knight, who was blamed for the wreck. Officials claim he was distracted by reaching for a cell phone when his tractor-trailer rig piled into vehicles near Interstate 270 on July 15, 2008, causing the three fatalities and 14 injuries.